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Nature 444, 993 (21 December 2006) | doi:10.1038/444993a; Published online 21 December 2006

Open Innovation Challenges

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The Pentagon is sinking millions of dollars into developing the next generation of supercomputers — and plans to let non-military scientists and engineers share the benefits. Heidi Ledford reports.

Once upon a time, the fastest supercomputers were top-secret. In the days of the cold war, the best US machines were reserved primarily for the use of spy agencies and designers of nuclear weapons.